The present invention relates to an upper layer water flow type circulating water pool in which a beginner can learn how to swim or the intensified training of a swimming player under advice of an instructor can be conducted in the water which is forcibly circulated.
Prior to the description of the present invention, a conventional circulating pool will be briefly described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 for the sake of better understand of problems and defects of the conventional circulating water pools which the present invention contemplates to solve.
A circulating pool main body 1 which is mounted on a foundation 2 comprises an upper water passage 4 and a lower water passage 5 which are separated by a horizontally extending partition wall 3 and front and rear curved water passages 6 and 7 which intercommunicate between the upper and lower water passages 4 and 6, respectively.
An observation window 9 is formed in one of the side walls 8 of the main body 1 along a suitable section of the upper water passage 4 and a rectangular opening 10 is defined above the upper water passage 4 and is attached with frames.
A plurality of propellers 11 for producing the water flow are disposed in the lower water passage 5 and are driven by motors 12, respectively, disposed outside of the main body 1. The propellers 11 are rotated by the motors 12 with manually set rotational speeds to produce a water flow which is accelerated in the lower water passage 5, passes through the front curved water passage 6 to flow into the upper water passage, passes through the rear curved water passage 7 and then sucked by the propellers 11. Thus the water in the pool is forcibly circulated.
A swimmer can swim at a predetermined position without countering the water flow.
An instructor or the like may directly observe the swimming forms of a swimmer through the observation window of the side wall 8 without moving along with the swimmer and the swimming forms may be recorded by a video tape recorder or a camera so that a swimmer or a swimming player may quickly learn the correct swimming forms.
The depth of the water in which a swimmer swims is only the upper water layer only in the upper water passage 4, but in the cases of the conventional circulating water pools, the whole water in the upper water passage 4 is forced to circulate so that the diameter of the propellers 11 must be longer, the capacities of the motors 12 must be also greater and therefore both the installation cost and the operation cast become very expensive.
In addition, in the conventional circulating water pools, the direction of the water flow in the upper water passage 4 cannot be arbitrarily changed and the flow rate of the water flow passing through the upper water passage 4 cannot be quickly changed.
In view of the above, a primary object of the present invention is to provide an upper water layer type circulating water pool which can be installed and operated at less costs and in which the outlet of the circulating water passage is designed and constructed by various improved techniques and which can be used for various purposes such as improving one's health and beauty, etc.